Ciao! I’m Monica, born and raised in Italy, and I’ve been teaching Italian as a second language for over 10 years. I hold a degree in teaching Italian to foreigners (insegnamento dell’italiano L2), and I’ve worked with students from all over the world — from absolute beginners to advanced speakers.
In this article, I’ll share the 5 most common mistakes English speakers make when speaking Italian. For each mistake, I’ll explain why it happens and (even more importantly) how you can avoid it. Let’s make your Italian sound natural, not “textbook weird.”
Mistake #1: Neglecting Gender & Number Agreement
In Italian, every noun has a gender (maschile or femminile), and adjectives, articles, some participles, and pronouns must agree with the noun in both gender and number (singular/plural). For example:
- il ragazzo bello (the handsome boy)
- la ragazza bella (the beautiful girl)
- I ragazzi belli
- le ragazze belle
If you mix genders or numbers (e.g., le ragazze simpatico), it immediately signals “non-native.”
Why English Speakers Struggle
- In English, adjectives don’t change: “the big car,” “the big houses” — same “big.”
- English has no grammatical gender for most nouns.
- There are plenty of exceptions in Italian (and “false friends”) which break neat patterns (for instance, la mano is feminine despite ending in -o, il problema is masculine though ending in -a).
- Learners often learn the “bare noun” (e.g., problema) without its article (il problema), making it harder to remember the gender later.
How to Avoid / Fix It
- Always learn new nouns with their article (e.g., il problema, not just problema).
- Practice adjectives in all four forms (masc. singular, fem. singular, masc. plural, fem. plural) — drills help.
- In reading or listening, actively notice adjective endings and how they match the noun.
- Do little self-tests: take a noun and try to form a sentence with a matching adjective.
- Use flashcards (noun + article + picture), color-coding for gender (e.g., blue for masculine, red/pink for feminine)
- Make a mental “exceptions list” (like la mano, il problema, etc.) and review it regularly.
Mistake #2: Confusing or Misusing essere vs avere in Compound Tenses
In Italian, when you talk about something that has happened (i.e., in compound past tenses like passato prossimo), you need a helping verb (auxiliar) — either essere (“to be”) or avere (“to have”) — plus the past participle.
English only uses “have” (I have eaten, I have gone, etc.), so learners often default to “avere” in Italian. But here’s the twist: some verbs in Italian take essere instead of avere.
Which verbs usually take essere? Verbs of movement (andare, venire, partire, uscire), verbs that express change of state (nascere, diventare), reflexive verbs, and a few others.
With essere, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject (e.g. sono arrivata / siamo arrivati).
With avere, the past participle usually stays the same (no change for gender/number) — unless there’s a preceding direct object pronoun (e.g., l’ho vista).
With avere, the past participle usually stays the same (no change for gender/number) — unless there’s a preceding direct object pronoun (e.g., l’ho vista).
Common Error Examples
- ho andato (wrong) — you should say sono andato/a
- sono mangiato (wrong) — correct: ho mangiato
Why It Happens
- English interference: In English, we always use “have” for past (perfect) forms, so the habit is strong.
- Uncertainty about which verbs require essere vs avere.
- Overgeneralising: once you learn a verb that uses essere, apply it to similar but different verbs without checking.
Solutions / How to Avoid It
- Memorise the “essere verbs” list (the most frequent ones) — make a “house of essere” mnemonic or visual map to help.
- Practice both patterns (essere + participle, avere + participle) repeatedly in sentences.
- Listen to native Italian speakers (watch Italian dialogues, audio) and notice how they form past tenses.
- Always check the agreement when using essere (match gender/number).
- Translate simple English past sentences into Italian using both auxiliaries — then check with a native speaker or a resource.
- Use exercises and drills that focus on auxiliaries and participles.
Mistake #3: Overuse or Unnecessary Use of Subject Pronouns
In English, you always say I, you, he, she, we, they — you can’t drop the subject. But in Italian, the verb endings (conjugations) often already tell you who is doing the action (io parlo, tu parli, etc.). So in everyday speech, Italians frequently omit the subject pronoun unless they want to emphasize, contrast, or clarify.
When English speakers always include the pronoun (even when it’s redundant), the result can sound stiff, overly literal, or “textbook-y.”
Examples
- Saying “tu vuoi un caffè?” Instead of simply “vuoi un caffè?”
- Starting with lui è…, lei dice… even where context would already make clear who’s speaking.
Why This Happens
- English habit: subjects must be stated in English.
- Learners feel unsure and want to “clarify” by using pronouns.
- Thinking in English first and then translating word-by-word.
- Fear of ambiguity — students think “if I omit the pronoun, someone won’t know who I mean.”
How to Avoid / Fix It
- Listen to native Italian in conversation (films, podcasts, dialogues) and note when speakers omit the subject. Try to imitate.
- Practice making sentences without the pronoun: force yourself to drop io, tu, lui/la unless needed.
- Understand when pronouns are needed: for emphasis (“Tu parli troppo”), contrast, or avoidance of ambiguity.
- Do exercises take sentences with pronouns and rewrite them without. Then check whether the meaning stays clear.
- Gain comfort: over time, you’ll feel when pronouns add something vs when they’re redundant.
Mistake #4: Prepositions — misusing “a”, “in”, “di”, etc.
Prepositions in Italian don’t always map neatly onto English ones. The meaning depends heavily on context, location, motion, state, and idiomatic use. You can’t simply translate English “in”, “on”, “at”, “to”, “of” word-for-word and expect it to work.
Italian also uses preposizioni articolate (preposition + definite article combinations) (e.g. a + il = al, di + la = della) — that adds another layer.
Knowing which preposition to use depends on the region, movement, fixed collocations, and how Italians naturally express themselves.
Common Pitfalls
- Vivo a Roma vs vivo in Italia you use a when referring to a city, and “in” for a country / region.
- Using English prepositions directly, e.g., sono in casa (I’m at home), is fine, but sono a casa is more idiomatic in many cases.
- Saying in vicino di instead of vicino a
Why It Happens
- English speakers tend to translate “on”, “in”, “at”, and “to” literally from English into Italian.
- Lack of exposure to idiomatic collocations (“vivere in Italia”, “andare in bici”, etc.).
- Some places / uses are irregular or fixed; you have to memorize them.
How to Avoid / Fix It
- Learn fixed expressions / collocations (e.g. andare in farmacia, andare a piedi, andare a teatro, andare in spiaggia).
- Maintain lists or flashcards of verbs + prepositions (e.g. pensare a, credere in, parlare di, abitare a/in).
- In reading / listening, notice prepositions — highlight them and see how native speakers use them.
- Use exercises / fill-in gaps focusing specifically on prepositions in context.
- When in doubt, always check whether a, in, di, da is correct.
Mistake #5: Literal Translation, Word-Order & Pronoun / Object Placement
English has a fairly fixed word order: Subject → Verb → Object. Italian is more flexible, especially with pronouns, clitics, and infinitive constructions. Also, the placement of direct / indirect object pronouns (clitic pronouns) in Italian is different — they tend to “lean on” the verb (precede or attach) in ways English speakers don’t expect.
When learners translate too literally (word by word) from English into Italian, they often misplace pronouns or retain the English word order, which sounds awkward or incorrect in Italian.
Examples
- “I have a red car” — English might say “Ho una rossa macchina” instead of “ho una macchina rossa, because in English the adjective always comes before the noun. In Italian, most adjectives go after the noun.
- Misplacing clitic pronouns:
• “Voglio lo mangiare” instead of “voglio mangiarlo” (because in English they would say “I want to eat it” - With modal verbs + infinitives, pronouns can attach to the infinitive or precede the modal: lo posso fare / posso farlo, both are acceptable in many cases.
Why It Happens
- Learners think in English structure, then translate word by word.
- They don’t know the rules for pronoun placement, or how clitics “lean” on verbs in Italian.
- Unfamiliarity with Italian’s flexibility and conventions (e.g., in infinitives, imperatives, compounds).
- Fear of “moving” the pronoun away from what feels like the “logical” object position in English.
How to Avoid / Fix It
- Immerse yourself in natural Italian: read, listen, see pronouns in real sentences, and notice their positions.
- Drill pronoun placement rules: practice many examples with direct / indirect pronouns, in infinitives, modals, compounds, and imperatives.
- Pay special attention to compound tenses: pronouns almost always come before the auxiliary (e.g., l’ho mangiata).
- Use focused exercises just on clitics and object pronouns (e.g., replace full nouns with pronouns, decide where they go)
So there you have it — 5 big traps English speakers tend to fall into when speaking Italian.
Don’t let this list intimidate you. Making mistakes is part of the learning journey — even native speakers of other languages make them. Awareness is power: once you’re aware, you can begin catching these errors when they happen, not just after the fact.
Practice idea
- Try a mini challenge: write 5 sentences in Italian, then go through each and ask: Do I have correct gender agreement? Did I pick the right auxiliary? Did I use unnecessary pronouns? Prepositions okay? Pronouns placed well? Could the word order sound more natural